Manikin for the display of blouses and the like



May 1965 M. A. WOLF 3,181,748

MANIKIN FOR THE DISPLAY OF BLOUSES AND THE LIKE Filed May 31, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORQ BY M w /4 A/EK! M. A. WOLF 3,181,748

MANIKIN FOR THE DISPLAY OF BLOUSES AND THE LIKE May 4, 1965 2 Sheeis-Sheet 2 Filed May 31, 1962 INVENTOR Mace/.5 4 1464,

3,181,748 Patented May 4, 1965 3,181,748 MANIKIN FOR THE DISPLAY OF BLOUSES AND THE LIKE Morris A. Wolf, 225 S. Los Angeles St.,

, Los Angeles 12, Calif. Fiied May 31, 1962, Ser. No. 198,797 4 Claims. (Cl. 223-68) The present invention relates to clothing display manikins and more particularly to a manikin for the display of sweaters, shirts, blouses or other hip length garments.

A variety of display forms for showing blouses, sweaters or other hip or waist length garments have heretofore been devised and used. Such display manikins have sometimes included a rigidly fixed partial ring of a rigid material partially encircling the waist portion of the garment. In this ring, the lower portion of the garment is loosely gathered to hang lirnply within and below the ring without any shape as would be suggestive .of the appearance of the garment on the body of the user. With some types of garments as for example, pressed cotton over-blouses, the act of gathering the garment to force it into the ring causes an excessive wrinkling of the material and so results in unattractive display. This unattractiveness is present not only in the wrinkled portion of the garment in and beneath the ring, but also above the ring because the bust portion of the garment does not properly conform to the figure. Additionally, with such manikins or stands, a considerable amount of pinning of the garment and stufiing in the waist portion may be required so that only skilled dressers are capable of doing a satisfactory job. Further, the fact that the previously available manikins require a great deal of pinning necessitates the use of a material for the manikin form that is adapted to receive pins and not deteriorate too rapidly as a result of many pinnings. Thus, a relatively expensive manikin material must be employed. Finally, mani kins of this type have not heretofore been adapted to handle all types of garments equally well; for example, they are not at all adapted to attractively display both bulky sweaters and relatively sheer blouses.

Among the principal objects of my invention are the elimination of the mentioned defects and deficiencies of previously available garment display stands.

More particularly, an important object of my invention is to provide a manikin for waist length ladies garments having bust, waist and hip simulating portions and a removable waist band whereby the garment can first be naturally draped over or dressed on the manikin and the waist band then closed to gather the material without wrinkling it to attractively display, not only the bust and shoulder portions, but also to accentuate the waist and hip portions of the garment.

A further object of the invention is to provide a manikin of this type that can be used with any ordinary pole standard to merely gravitationally rest thereon, but having a steady rest at the lower end of the manikin to firmly retain the manikin in an adjusted position relative to the stand.

Additionally, it is an object of the invention to provide a manikin having a full or rounded hip simulating portion beneath a Waist band ring and a means within the waist band ring to also give a fullness or roundness to the garment to be displayed thereon whereby to eliminate all requirements for pinning and stutling the garment to attractively display it.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a hip length garment display manikin that completely eliminates any need for pinning or stuffing the garment and so can be dressed by unskilled persons to display the garment as effectively as though the'manikin has been dressed by a professional dresser. Additionally, this advantage of the invention allows the use of an extremely inexpensive material for the manikin and the manikin has a very long service life despite the use of the rela tively soft and inexpensive material.

Yet another object of theinventionis the provision of a manikin for displaying hip length garments in which all of the supporting structure for the manikin form or body is concealed from view and, also, incorporating a complete waistband ring that completely encircles the garment at the waist portion. 7

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a manikin of this type including a waist encircling'ring or band of a flexible material that may be detachably secured at opposite ends to portions of the stand and, also, an arrangement to permit Waist adjustment to the girth of various types of garments, as for example, bulky sweatters as well as relatively light blouses. 7

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment display stand of this class that is readily adjustable to vary the waist length, i.e., the length vertically between the shoulders and the waist, whereby the stand is usable to accentuate a variety of waist levels. 7

Another object of the invention is to provide a manikin of this type having a novel arm construction, the arm elements being variable as regards length and position.

I These and other objects and advantages'of the invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of my invention wearing a relatively heavy sweater type blouse;

. FIGURE 2 is arear perspective view of the manikin.

of FIGURE 1, but undressed;

FIGURE 3 is apartial sectional view taken on the line a 1 3--3 of FIGURE 2 to show details of the arm element construction; i a e I FIGURE 4 is a sectional view on the line 44 of FIGURE 2 to illustratea detail of construction of the connection of the arm elements to the manikin body;

FIGURE 5 is a partial vertical sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 2 showing details of the mounting bracket for the manikin of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE-6 is a rear elevational view of another embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 7 is a partial vertical sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view on the line 8-8 of FIGURE 7, particularly to illustrate the mode of adjustment of a belt-like member to different waist girths;

FIGURE 9 is a rear perspective view of yet another embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view on the line 1010 of FIGURE 9 to show details of the mounting bracket; FIGURE 11 is a partial sectional view taken on the line 11-11 of FIGURE 9; and 1 FIGURE 12 is a partial perspective view of the Waist portion of the manikin shown in FIGURE 9.

Referring to FIGURE 1, a display stand 12 supports one embodiment of the invention wearing a relatively heavy sweater type blouse 13. The display manikin is also shown in FIGURE 2 wherein it will be seen that the manikin includes a molded body 14 which simulates normally proportioned neck, shoulder and breast portions of a female figure, but an abnormally narrow waist portion above a substantially normal hip portion. The body is supported on a bracket 15 that is, in turn, connected to a vertical tubular member 16 comprising .a portion of the display stand 12.

More specifically, the body 14 is preferably molded, preferably of expanded styrene, to simulate the shoulders 17, neck 13, breasts 19, waist 20, and upper hip region 21 of a female figure. The body 14 is a hollow backless shell, having a cavity 22 that opens rearwardly beneath the hollow neck 18 and shoulders 17. Within the cavity 22, the hollow body 14 has a generally vertically extending portion 23, which is reinforced with an elongated rectangular block of wood 24 having a protruding rib to define a longitudinally extending pair of shoulders 25.

The manikin 14 mounts a pair of arm simulating elements each of which comprises a length of wire 26 covered with a suitable elastomeric sleeve 27. Each length of wire 26 has an inner end looped around a bolt 28 that is secured in the upper end of the block 24. The protruding endof the bolt 28 is provided with a wing nut 29, or the like, beneath which a washer 30 is mounted so that upon tightening of the nut the inner ends of both lengths of wire 26 are clamped against the face of the strip 24. Side wall portions of the body 14, in locations approximating shoulder sockets, are provided with a pair of openings each of which mounts a suitable bushing 31 through which one of the coated lengths of wire 26 extends. The outer end of each length of wire has a decorative ball 32, connected thereto, the ball also serving to prevent the sleeve 27 from slipping off the wire 26.

As is apparent from an examination of FIGURE 2, the wire 26 is of a plastically deformable nature, such as soft aluminum, so that each arm element can be bent to any desired configuration, as for example, the left arm element shown in FIGURE 1. Also, each arm element can be withdrawn through its bushing 31 to be extended to a maximum length so as to simulate a complete arm length. It will, of course, be understood that the degree of extension, and the particular bending of each arm element, will be dependent on the sleeve length of the garment to be displayed or on the desires of the manikin dresser. Because the body 14 is backless an arm element can be grasped inside as well as outside the body and can thus be easily extended and retracted.

The support 15 is a U-shaped structure with upright ends comprising a pair of generally U-shaped rods 34, each of the rods having a straight leg 35 in opposition to a bent leg 36. The bent legs 36 of the pair of rods 34 are tied together by a short straddling piece of rod material 37, that is tack welded or otherwise secured to both rods 34. As is apparent from FIGURE 5, the pair of legs 36 are angled so that the upper ends will conform to the angularity of the adjacent portion of the body 14. As can be seen in FIGURE 2, the spacing between the pair of rods 34 is such that they straddle the elongated strip of wood 24 so as to be seated in the shoulders 25. A bolt 38 is mounted in the lower end of the body 14, within the cavity 22, to extend rearwardly through the strip 24 and a plate 39 secured to the upper ends of the legs 36, provided with a bore to receive the stud bolt 38. A wing nut 40 on the end of the stud bolt 38 serves to clamp the upper ends of the legs 36 into place. It will be appreciated that the nesting of the legs 36 within the shoulder 25 holds the manikin body 14 against swivelling or pivoting on the axis of the bolt 38.

A rod 41 is telescopically slidably mounted in the tubular member 16 of the display stand 12 and can be held in a vertically adjusted position by means of a set seats on the upper end of the rod to support the manikin. To steady the manikin on the display stand 12, the spacing between the pair of U-shaped rods 34 is adapted to closely receive and embrace the tubular member 16, the latter being passed into place between the legs 35. As the legs 35 are not tacked together, they can be spread apart slightly to admit the tubular member 16 past one or both of a pair of socket members 44, each of which is removably sleeved into the upper end of one of the legs 35. These sockets are connected to opposite ends of a waist band or belt-like member 45 that is made of a flexible, tightly coiled but extensible spring.

The manner of use of the manikin 14 is as follows: First, let it be supposed that the manikin, as shown in FIGURE 2, is desired to be dressed with a blouse 13, shown in FIGURE 1. First, the arm elements are shortened, if necessary, so that portions of the coated wires 26 are disposed within the cavity 22. Then, after only suitable lengths of arm elements are exposed, these lengths are straightened and turned upwardly in order to facilitate dropping the blouse 13 into place. The waist band 45 is then completely removed or left hanging from one socket 44, as shown in FIGURE 2. As the blouse drops into place its lower end will cover the hip simulating portion 21 of the body 14 and the rear portion of the hem of the garment enters the space between the legs of the U-shaped rods 34. Then, the waist band 45 is wound around the waist of the garment 14 until the other socket 44 is brought around and onto the upper end of its leg 35. The waist and hip portions of the garment 13 are thus gently gathered without wrinkling and shaped into conformity with the waist portion 20 and hip portion 21 of the manikin body 14. When the manikin is dressed, the only visible portion of the supporting structure are the legs 35 of the pair of rods 34- and the waist encircling band. It is particularly to be noted that that portion of the garment within and beneath the waist encircling band 45 is not merely gathered to hang loosely, but is filled by the waist portion 20 and filled and flared out beyond the waist by hip portion 21.

FIGURE 6 shows another embodiment of the invention in which a manikin body 60 is supported on a display stand 12. The body 60 is hollow, having hollow neck, shoulder, breast, waist and hip simulating portions, proportioned as in the case of the body 14 shown in FIGURE 1. The upper end of the display stand rod 41 provides a seat for the closed upper end of the neck-simulating portion of the manikin body 60, whereby the manikin body merely hangs from the upper end of the rod.

Inside the hollow body 60, at waist level, there is a block 61 adhesively or otherwise fastened to the manikin body. As is shown in FIGURE 8, this block is formed with a parallel pair of vertically extending grooves 62. A pair of U-shaped rods 63 each have a leg 64 mounted within one of the grooves 62 of the block 61. A bolt 65, seated within the block 61, has one end protruding midway between the pair of grooves 62 and is provided with a nut 66 beneath which there is a washer 67 that clamps on the legs 64 of the rods 63, the grooves 62 preferably being of a depth slightly shallower than the diameter of the legs 64.

In this embodiment of the invention, the waist band for encircling the waist portion of a garment to be placed on the manikin body 60 comprises a length of coil spring 70 having opposite ends sleeved over reduced diameter ends 71 of the other legs 72 of the pair of U-shaped rods- 63.

Whereas the pair of rods 34 in FIGURES 1 and 2 are rigidly interconnected, the pair of rods 63 are not fastened together, so that they may be adjusted in the manner shown in FIGURE 8. Thus, for a blouse of a relatively 5.. light material, the pair of rods 63 can be moved to occupy the solid outline position indicated until they butt against opposite sides of the tubular member 16. When it is desired to display a bulky sweater, a pair of rods 63 can be pivoted in the groove-s 62 toward the phantom outline positions shown, so as to increase the gap between the belt member 70 and the waist portion of the manikin body. Finally, by using two pinions to actuate the disc for adjust- Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGURE 9. In this case, there is a molded body 80 simulating normally proportioned neck, shoulder and bust portions only of a female figure- As before, the body 80 comprises a hollow shell, but the manikin may either be suspended or mounted on a stand. For use in the former manner, the hollow neck portion at its closed upper end mounts a ring 81 for the reception of a ceiling or wall hook. The ring 81 is pivotally mounted in a ball 32 which serves as a head of a stud 83 that extends inwardly into the hollow neck portion. A wing nut 84 threadedly engages the inner end of the stud 83 and a washer beneath the nut serves to anchor or clamp the inner ends of plastically deformable wires 26 of the type shown in FIGURE 3. Thus, the arm elements in this case are anchored within the body 80 within the upper end of the hollow neck portion. As in the case of the manikin shown in FIGURE 2, the arm elements of the body 80 are also extendable and retractable through bushings 86 in the side walls of the hollow body 89, at positions corresponding approximately to shoulder sockets.

The embodiment of FIGURE 9 includes a pair of rods 8'7 each having a short horizontal lower end leg 88 and an ofiset upper end portion 89. The pair of rods 87 are rigidly interconnected by spanwise straps 90. Within the cavity of the hollow body 80, just above the bust portion, there is a reinforced boss 91 formed with a pair of vertically extending shoulders 92 in which the upper end sections 89 are seated. The reinforced boss 91 anchors an inner end of a bolt 93 that protrudes rearwardly from the boss to mount a washer 94 and wing nut 95. The depth of the shouldes 92 is slightly less than the diameter of the rod material whereby tightening of the wing nut 95 causes the sections 89 to be clamped between the Washer and confronting surfaces of the shoulders 92. Upon loosening of the wing nut, the sections 89 can he slid upwardly or downwardly whereby to vary the waist length of the manikin, i.e., the length from the shoulder to waist ring.

A pair of hip simulating rods 96 are secured to the pair of rods 87. Each of the rods 96 includes a generally U-shaped mid portion having a web 97 welded to the pair of rods 87 and, also, having a downwardly divergent pair of arms 98. At the lower ends of the arms 98, the wire material is bent into outwardly and downwardly curving sections 99, so as to generally simulate the sideward configuration of the hip portion 21 of the body shell 14 of FIGURE 2, for example. At the junction of the section 98 and 99, a ring 100 is welded or otherwise secured to both arms of both rods 96 to spread then apart at the waist level. Adjacent ends of the pair of rods 96 are brought together and secured by spot welding or the like and then covered with a protective tip Hi1. A rigid ring 102, preferably of slightly larger diameter than the ring 109, is loosely mounted around the pair of rods 96 and normally gravitationally rests on the spread apart sections 99 of the pair of rods.

The body 80 is readily used with a conventional stand 12. In that case, the upper end of the rod 41 of the display stand provides a seat for the manikin by engagement with the bind upper end of the hollow neck portion of the body 80. To steady the body shell 80, the short legs 88 at the lower ends of the rods 87 can be spread to receive and contact opposite sides of the tubular member 16 of the display stand.

A manikin employing the structure of FIGURE 12 is dressed in substantially the same manner as previously described. Thus, after a garment has been slipped over the body shell 80, the ring 102 can be raised from its position on the sections 99 and the hip and waist portions of the garment are then extended between the ring 102 and ring 100. Then, the hip portion of the garment is draped around the ring and over the hip simulating portions 99 after which the ring 102. is dropped into place, thus causing the garment to. assume substantially the configuration of'the garment 103 in FIGURE 9, .i.e., the waist being round and gathered and the hip portion of the garment'being round and flared. It will be seen that this arrangement is very effective in concealing all of the supporting structure for the 'mainkin.

While several embodiments of my invention have hereinabove been set forth, 'it is to be understood that I do not mean to be limited to the several details ofconstruction illustrated and described but only by the spirit and scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A clothing display manikin comprising:

a body structure including neck, shoulder, bust and hip portions adapted to receive corresponding portions of a garment and, also, including a narrow waist portion;

a generally U-shaped structure with upright ends having one upright end secured to said body structure and having the other upright end disposed to the rear and outside of said body structure, the rear hip portion of said garment being receivable between said upright ends of said U-shaped structure;

and a belt-like member having opposite ends connected to said other upright end of said U-shaped structure and substantially completely encircling said. waist portion of said body structure,

said belt-like member being of a length to gather the waist portion of a garment against said waist portion of said manikin to a girth less than the girth of said garment around said hip portion to display waist and hip portions of said garment with substantially natural fullness.

2. A manikinas set forth in claim 1 in which said U-shaped structure comprises a substantially identical pair of generally U-shaped rod members and in which said belt-like member comprises a flexible element having at least one end detachably connected to the upper end of a leg of said U-shaped rod member that is disposed rearwardly of said body structure.

3. A manikin as set forth in claim 1 in which said U-shaped structure comprises a pair of substantially U-shaped rods each of which rods has one leg pivotally secured for rotation on a vertical axis to the waist level portion of said body structure whereby another leg of each rod is swingable towards and away from the other leg of the other one of said rods, said belt-like member being flexible and having opposite ends connected to upper ends of said other legs of said U-shaped rods whereby to vary the effective girth enclosed by said flexible member, and in which a clamping means is provided on said body structure for engagement with said legs of said U-shaped members to hold said pair of U-shaped members against said body structure in ad justed positions.

4. A clothing display manikin comprising a hollow form simulating at least neck, shoulder and breast portions of a male or female figure and having a pair of openings through opposite sidewall portions of said form at locations approximating shoulder socket locations, a pair of elongated wire-like members to simulate arms for said form, each of said members extending through one of said sidewall openings and being extendible and retractable outwardly and inwardly of said form through said opening, each of said members being of a pliably deformable material to be bendable to a desired arm position after extension or retraction to a desired length, and

7 8 a means securing inner ends of said members to said 2,707,070 4/55 Tanzer 223-68 form within said form, said form being open at the back 2,791,360 5/57 Wing 223-68 where each of said arm simulating members can be FOREIGN PATENTS grasped inside said form for extension and retraction.

5 89,767 9/60 Denmark.

References Zited by the Examiner 853,336 5/40 France.

2 901985 1/54 Germany.

D "F I UNITED STATED 505,383 5/39 Great Britain.

967, 8/10 Allison 760,366 10/56 Great Britain. 1,254,719 1/18 Moschcowltz 223-68 10 2 764 1/60 Great i i 1,441,776 1/23 Beck 2 213,688 6/41 Switzerland. 3.23.32? 3/2 ar gggg 311,436 1/56 Switzerland. 23011864 3/50 P2111251;l:::::2 23 X IGRDAN FRANKLIN, Prim/"7 2,629,523 2/53 Aichberger 22368 5 THOMAS J. HICKEY, DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY,

2,687,240 8/54 Newman 223-68 1 Examiners. 

1. A CLOTHING DISPLAY MANIKIN COMPRISING: A BODY STRUCTURE INCLUDING NECK, SHOULDER, BUST AND HIP PORTIONS ADAPTED TO RECEIVE CORRESPONDING PORTIONS OF A GARMENT AND, ALSO, INCLUDING A NARROW WAIST PORTION; A GENERALLY U-SHAPED STRUCTURE WITH UPRIGHT ENDS HAVING ONE UPRIGHT END SECURED TO SAID BODY STRUCTURE AND HAVING THE OTHER UPRIGHT END DISPOSED TO THE REAR AND SAID OUTSIDE OF SAID BODY STRUCTURE, THE REAR HIP PORTION OF SAID GARMENT BEING RECEIVABLE BETWEEN SAID UPRIGHT ENDS OF SAID U-SHAPED STRUCTURE; AND A BELT-LIKE MEMBER HAVING OPPOSITE ENDS CONNECTED TO SAID OTHER UPRIGHT END OF SAID U-SHAPED STRUCTURE AND SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETELY ENCIRCLING SAID WAIST PORTION OF SAID BODY STRUCTURE, SAID BELT-LIKE MEMBER BEING OF A LENGTH TO GATHER THE WAIST PORTION OF A GARMENT AGAINST SAID WAIST PORTION OF SAID MANIKIN TO A GIRTH LESS THAN THE GIRTH OF SAID GARMENT AROUND SAID HIP PORTION TO DISPLAY WAIST AND HIP PORTIONS OF SAID GARMENT WITH SUBSTANTIALLY NATURAL FULLNESS. 